


Zemnian Nights, Menagerie Mornings

by Purplehuntress3



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, for the prompt: lounging in their pjs, this is so soft btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 06:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17782205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplehuntress3/pseuds/Purplehuntress3
Summary: Caleb and Fjord spend a morning together(my work for the widofjord valentines day exchange!)





	Zemnian Nights, Menagerie Mornings

**Author's Note:**

> are y'all ready for more widofjord soft.

There is no greater feeling, Caleb finds, than slowly waking in the morning and realising, there is nothing making you get up. 

Caleb had never been a morning person. When he was young, his mother said he would sleep more than the cat if he could. There was just something about staying in bed, curled up in quilts and ignoring the sun, waiting for it to filter light into his room before he even thinks of opening his eyes. And even then, it would take his mother dragging him out of bed or, on one more eventful cold winters morning, throwing Frumpkin, who had been out in the snow all morning, under his quilt. 

No, Caleb was a night owl. It got worse when he learnt how to read, staying up late with a storybook and trying to keep the lit candle hidden so his parents wouldn’t catch onto his reading. They always did, his father putting out the small flame as his mother tucked him back into bed.  _ Your book can wait one night dear.  _ She would say, pressing a kiss to his forehead.  _ And anyway, your dreams will be filled with stories of your own.  _ His father would chuckle as they left, finally going to bed themselves. Caleb would listen to the house creak with the gentle winds that blew over the Zemni fields, and he would time them and made sure as he walked over to the candle again he wasn’t making a creak out of time. And he would continue to read late into the night, waiting for the candle to flicker out, and even then he sometimes would read by starlight. His parents would scold him the next day as he got ready for school with bags under his eyes, but he could see their smiles. When he started to learn magic, it got worse again. He could now create his own light that he could diminish the moment he thought his parents were catching on.

He had been beaten out of his late morning habit at the academy. If he was not up at the crack of dawn there were punishments, and those got worse and worse as time went on. He never truly grew out of it though. It was a joint effort between Astrid and Edowulf to drag him out of bed each morning, something he is grateful for to this day. 

After escaping the asylum, he did not believe he deserved late mornings. They were a luxury he had taken advantage of for years, and he did not deserve luxury any more. He struggled to wake each morning still, but he made himself do it. No lounging in inn rooms or in sleeping bags. Even once he met the Nein, Beau would call it creepy how he was always the first to be awake in the morning. 

When he and Fjord first retired, he would wake with the sun. he would drag himself from Fjord’s warm arms and stumble downstairs to make breakfast, that little voice in the back of his head telling him again and again that he didn’t deserve it. But time went on, and one morning when Fjord pulled him back to bed he went. He started getting up at the same time as Fjord, still earlier than he used to ( _ sailor’s clock,  _ Fjord had said to him once), but it was more than he had allowed himself in years. And then it was him dragging  _ Fjord _ back into bed, mumbling as he held onto an arm or his waist as the half-orc tried to pull himself from his arms. 

Today was the first day that he had woken without Fjord in bed. 

It was late morning, so late that the sun was almost at its highest peak. The curtains were slightly ajar, letting a tiny slither of light filter into the room. The other side of the bed was cold, telling him it had been a while since Fjord had woken up. Taking advantage of having the bed to himself, he wrapped himself further into the quilt, cocooning himself away from the rest of the world. 

_ You deserve this _ , he said to himself, and he believed it. 

Fjord came in not too long after he woke, nudging open the door with his shoulder as he carried breakfast. He was still in his sleep clothes, the thin material all he needed to keep himself warm in the summer months by the coast. He smiled as he saw Caleb peaking out of the blankets, a weak glare shot his way like the half-orcs very presence was a reminder that at some point, Caleb would have to wake. 

“I brought pancakes?” he said, making his way slowly towards the bed. He narrowly avoided a sleeping Frumpkin, who was stretched out in front of the window. He woke the cat up with his footsteps, and the familiar looked as happy to be awake as his owner did, who was still pouting at him from his nest. 

With Fjord standing next to the bed, occasionally shaking the tray the way he would call their dogs in from the back garden, Caleb relented. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, letting the blankets fall from around him and onto the bed. Fjord placed the tray onto Caleb’s lap, revealing two plates of pancakes, two mugs - empty of any liquid - and an alchemist jug. As Fjord got into bed, pulling what blankets he could over his legs, Caleb took the jug and summoned up a pot of coffee. He usually prefers tea in the morning but felt that conjured tea would be a dishonour to Caddy. He poured himself a cup of black coffee, before swirling around the jug, muttering a few words under his breath as he watched the dark liquid slowly become lighter and smelt sweeter. Fjord would deny it to his dying breath, but he had just as big a sweet tooth as Jester, often sneaking pastries and little sugary treats when people weren’t looking. Even now, Caleb noticed his pancakes were covered in chocolate and powdered sugar. 

Fjord shuffled in as close to Caleb’s side as he could, resting his chin on the wizard’s shoulder as they worked together to move the tray over both their laps. Caleb’s own pancakes were covered in honey and bananas, still sweet but not tooth-rotting like Fjord’s. It was a little hard for them to eat as they were, trying to share as much space as possible, and as their limbs kept hitting each other and the fact they were both being careful not to spill anything on the bed eating was a slow process. But neither cared, soft smiles passed over the tops of mugs. Chocolate smudges carefully kissed away. A slow breakfast, for a slow day. 

The tray and plates were abandoned on the bedside table, left to be washed later. Fjord curled up around Caleb as said man summoned a book from the desk. 

“Zemnian Nights?” Fjord mocked, and Caleb pretended to pull away, hiding the book towards his chest in and away from his husband. He faked a pout, but the smile that crept behind it ruined his attempt. 

In retaliation, and knowing what buttons would set Fjord off, he started to read the book aloud. The book was incredibly dirty, more so than some of the others Jester had given him over the years, and quickly Fjord was waving him away, a high blush on his cheeks as he reached below the bed to pull out his knitting. He had taken up many dextrous skills over the years, but stitchwork and knitting were Fjord’s favourite. The blanket they had with them now was one of the first he made (it was oh so ugly, but Caleb loved it to bits. Quite literally if the fraying on his side had anything to say). 

There they sat, for the rest of the day, reading and creating and sitting in nothing but their sleep clothes and silence. And all Caleb could think, as he watched Fjord poke his tongue out in concentration as he tried to knit the pattern into his scarf, was that he deserved it. He deserved this happiness. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos appreciated, find me @foresthuntress3 on twitter or huntress-of-the-forest on tumblr


End file.
